The Decibel

The price of Canadian dairy products might be jumping early next year and that’s because of the Canadian Dairy Commission. Recently, they announced an unprecedented 8.4% increase for the price farmers are paid for milk, and a 12.4% increase for the price of butter. And those price hikes might well be passed along to you at the supermarket.Sylvain Charlebois is a professor of food distribution and policy and the director of the Agri-Food Analytics Lab at Dalhousie University. He explains how the cost of dairy gets set every year, why Canada still has a supply-management system for dairy and whether or not it’s actually beneficial to farmers and Canadians. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

There are only a few days left at the 26th annual Conference of the Parties, and negotiators from over 200 countries are still working on trying to hammer out agreements to help reduce global emissions.There has already been a long list of promises made at this summit, but are any of them cause for optimism? Are they building momentum to put pressure on governments to actually implement policies to fulfill them? Or are they all a bunch of ‘blah, blah, blah,’ as climate activist Greta Thunberg puts it?The Globe’s climate change columnist Adam Radwanski joined The Decibel from COP26 in Glasgow to talk about how history will judge this iteration of the world’s attempts to stunt climate change. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Stealthing – the act of someone deliberately removing or not wearing a condom after their partner insists on one – is currently being addressed by the Supreme Court of Canada. The case being reviewed by the Justices will affect the interpretation of consent.Justice writer Sean Fine breaks down the case before the highest court and the two approaches being debated over how to determine what constitutes sexual assault. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

It’s an enticing promise that’s being sold: Come to Canada as an international student and find prosperity. And it’s being heavily sold to young people in India’s Punjab province, where some Canadian post-secondary institutions aren’t just recruiting but have become household names in villages on the other side of the world.The problem is that life in Canada for these students is often bumpy and many feel they lack the supports they need when it comes to housing, employment and mental health services. Meanwhile, colleges and universities are profiting off of increasingly higher enrolment numbers of international students. The Globe’s national race and ethnicity reporter, Dakshana Bascaramurty, shares what she has learned about Canada’s international student program. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Over 100 countries – including Canada – made a pledge this week at COP26 to end and reverse deforestation by 2030. It’s a commendable goal that could help meet global climate targets, but Canada also has work to do domestically.Protecting some of the oldest and rarest trees from logging in British Columbia is an ongoing battle. On Tuesday, B.C.’s government proposed to suspend logging in one-third of the province’s old growth forests. How fast that will happen remains a question. The Globe’s B.C. legislative reporter, Justine Hunter has been covering the tensions around harvesting old growth forests for decades. She explains what B.C. is planning to do and how it fits into the big picture goals of saving the trees. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

As the global economy revs back up after the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, consumer demand is up. Supply chains are bogged down. So prices are spiking and the inflation rate is getting higher – and concern is rising with it.Economics columnist David Parkinson is on The Decibel to unpack what’s happening with inflation and why he thinks that with some time and some patience it’ll settle back down. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Cindy Blackstock, executive director of the First Nations Child and Family Caring society, has been at the heart of an ongoing battle with the federal government. While working as a social worker in B.C., Blackstock noticed that the child welfare program for First Nations kids living on-reserve received less funding than for kids living off reserve. She, along with the Assembly of First Nations, filed a human rights complaint in 2007. In 2016, the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal agreed that federal underfunding of child welfare services on-reserve was discriminatory and led to thousands of children being unnecessarily taken into care.The tribunal ordered Ottawa to pay up to $40,000 to those affected by this discrimination. But the government has challenged the CHRT order on several occasions – including most recently last week. Cindy Blackstock is on the show to talk about what this most recent development means and where the fight for compensation goes from here. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

We’ve already warmed the climate by 1.1 C and we’re starting to see the effects with more frequent extreme weather events. On Monday, political leaders from around the globe will address the world to talk about how they plan to tackle the immense challenge of climate change.Dr. Sarah Burch is a climate change researcher and an associate professor at the University of Waterloo. She is on the show today to discuss what to watch out for from COP26 and why – despite the complexity of the problem – she hasn’t lost hope that we can still save the world from the worst effects of climate change. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

China’s President Xi Jinping is unlikely to attend COP26, leaving some to wonder how countries will be able to agree on bold moves to lessen climate change without the leader of the world’s highest carbon-emitting country at the table. Over the next two weeks, leaders from more than 190 countries will meet in Glasgow to talk about the state of climate change and how to transition to a low-carbon economy.The Globe’s Asia correspondent James Griffiths explains why Xi Jinping isn’t expected to attend, what it means for the success of COP26 and what exactly China’s plans are for reducing emissions. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Only nine people in Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s new cabinet remained in their old jobs. The massive shakeup in the team included putting a climate activist in charge of Environment and Climate Change Canada, a rising star in Foreign Affairs and the first woman of colour at the head of a problem-plagued Defence ministry.But what do all these moves mean? And why should voters care about the promotions and demotions that were handed out? Parliamentary reporter Marieke Walsh is back on The Decibel to break it all down. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.